CARPINTERIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Carl’s Jr.® is now offering Hardee’s® Made From
ScratchTM Biscuits at more than 300 restaurants in Southern
California (in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and
Ventura counties). While some other restaurant chains think that
machine-produced, frozen biscuits are acceptable, Carl’s Jr. believes
that nothing compares to steaming-hot, buttermilk biscuits that are made
fresh from scratch throughout the morning.

To celebrate the arrival of Hardee’s Made From Scratch Biscuits, Carl’s
Jr. restaurants throughout the region will host Free Biscuit Day on the
morning of Wed., Nov. 16. Dine-in breakfast customers can get a free
Sausage Biscuit during breakfast hours. No purchase is necessary; one
per guest, who must be present, while supplies last.

Long a staple at sister-brand Hardee’s, the signature Made from Scratch
Biscuits have been helping folks of all ages across the Southeast and
Midwest rise and shine for more than 30 years. The world has changed a
lot since the mid-1970s, but not Hardee’s biscuits. Today at Carl’s Jr.
they’re still made fresh daily by dedicated biscuit bakers who arrive to
work in the early-morning hours to prepare and roll the dough by hand,
and bake the biscuits to their signature fluffy texture and golden-brown
color. Even after pulling the hot biscuits from the oven, the biscuit
bakers check temperature, height and weight of the biscuits, ensuring
that only perfect Made From Scratch Biscuits are served.

“Hardee’s customers have been enjoying Made From Scratch buttermilk
Biscuits for generations,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer at
CKE Restaurants, Inc., parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. “So,
about two years ago we began testing their appeal in Carl’s Jr. markets
in the West, but it was a very big undertaking, requiring new equipment
and intensive training since there is as much art as there is science to
making great-tasting biscuits from scratch. Fortunately, the previous
test markets did very well so Carl’s Jr. customers in the L.A. area can
now enjoy real Southern biscuits every morning with eggs, cheese and
their choice of sausage, ham or bacon.”

Carl’s Jr. restaurants in the Los Angeles area were fitted with
commercial ovens and dedicated biscuit preparation tables, and the
restaurant staff received training from regional biscuit trainers who
traveled to Hardee’s headquarters in St. Louis to hone their
biscuit-making skills. A senior restaurant operations executive from
Hardee’s was even moved to Los Angeles to oversee the roll-out of Made
From Scratch Biscuits in the market. Today, the majority of the
L.A.-area Carl’s Jr. restaurants are serving biscuits, with the
remainder slated to be offering them by year’s end.

“Carl’s Jr. is already well known for sit-down restaurant-quality lunch
and dinner menu items, like our line of 100% Black Angus beef Six Dollar
Burgers, our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes and Malts, and our
Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders and Sandwiches,” added Haley. “The roll-out
of our Made From Scratch buttermilk Biscuits now ensures that our
breakfast menu will be viewed the same way by hungry diners throughout
the Los Angeles area.”

Carl’s Jr. offers a variety of Made From Scratch buttermilk Biscuits
starting at just $1.69, including the Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit, the
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit and the Ham, Egg & Cheese Biscuit. Guests
can order any biscuit in a combo with Hash Brown Nuggets and Coffee,
Orange Juice or a soft drink starting at $2.99. For diners who can’t
make up their minds, there is the aptly named Monster Biscuit, featuring
egg, sausage, bacon, ham and two pieces of cheese between a fluffy
buttermilk biscuit. A Southern favorite, Biscuit ’N’ Gravy is also
offered, as is a sweet Strawberry Biscuit. Prices may vary by location.
Biscuits are only available during breakfast hours.

The advertising campaign, created by El Segundo-based ad agency
David&Goliath, includes a commercial featuring a dapper Southern
gentleman at a Southern California beach. The humorous,
“fish-out-of-water” ad, titled From The South, follows the
Southern gent as he mysteriously appears on the beach with a basket of
Made from Scratch Biscuits and offers them to several beachgoers. The ad
can be viewed on Carl’s Jr. YouTube channel www.youtube.com/carlsjr.

Hardee’s biscuit-centric breakfast day-part accounts for about 45
percent of overall sales, among the highest in the industry, while
Carl’s Jr. breakfast sales account for only about 15 percent of overall
sales. By comparison, Bloomberg speculates that industry behemoth
McDonald’s does about 25 percent in breakfast sales, while foodservice
consumer research firm Sandelman & Associates estimates that 10-11
percent of all fast-food sales are generated at breakfast. The
premium-quality offering of Made From Scratch Biscuits will complement
and expand the Carl’s Jr. breakfast menu that includes the unique
Breakfast Burger and hearty breakfast burritos.

Made From Scratch Biscuits are currently available in other Carl’s Jr.
markets, including Oklahoma, Utah, Texas, Bakersfield, Calif., Tucson,
Ariz., and Spokane, Wash.

About Carl’s Jr.

Carl’s Jr. is celebrating 70 years in the quick-service industry. What
began as a lone hot dog cart in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1941 is today a
wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc., of Carpinteria, Calif.
As of the end of Q2 fiscal 2012, CKE, through its subsidiaries, had a
total of 3,202 franchised, licensed or company-operated restaurants in
42 states and in 23 countries, including 1,278 Carl's Jr. restaurants
and 1,914 Hardee's® restaurants. For more information, or to
find a Carl’s Jr. near you, go to www.carlsjr.com.
Carl’s Jr. social media sites include www.facebook.com/carlsjr,
www.twitter.com/carlsjr
and www.youtube.com/carlsjr.